7
Budget Tourniquets

Stop the bleeding! Unless the script is written with production in mind, so many changes will need to be made during shooting that you’ll find yourself in a living nightmare. As we’ve already come to see, it’s better to think of technical logistics before and during writing.

To do that many screenwriters have to overcome our fear of technology. We’re afraid because there are so many buttons, nobs, and things that can go wrong. The solution to all of this is simple. Partner up with someone who likes gadgets. And if you can’t do that, then get yourself equipment that is laughingly simple (iPhones, iPads, point and shoot cameras), and learn to use it. Not every film (especially if intended for online viewing) needs to be shot with a Red camera.

More mundane cameras may have what we might consider quality drawbacks (purists whine that the quality isn’t as good as film, etc.), but forget about that. If the important thing is the message and what you want to get across, then be willing to back away from some of the things you think are quality essentials. Once again, if the story is compelling, people will forgive the odd technical glitch. You just have to make sure it can be heard well (sound is paramount) and actually seen … not too dark or too light.

So let’s say that you’ve written a perfect shoot-friendly short about five to seven minutes long. You’ve told a simple story using a few characters and a few locations. You’ve used effective visuals, and you’ve been innovative with production design. But in spite of all of that, be aware that there are some things you simply can’t do without in the shooting process. You need to figure out how to make these things financially viable by coming up with ways to stop your budget from bleeding while you shoot. There are ways of doing that in pre-production.

Here Are Some Things to Think About

Let’s say you have $4,000 to spend (the average price of a five- to seven-minute movie done without having to rent camera equipment; rentals will up that by a few thousand). That $4,000 includes catering; renting a generator or electricity on set; an equipment truck to haul lights, cameras, props, etc., to locations; hair and makeup costs; wardrobe; some post costs; hard drive costs; camera cards; permits; and so on.

Here Are Areas Where You Might Save

Crew and Actors

Let’s assume you can get actors for free (you usually can by putting ads in the casting magazines) because they need footage for their reels. You can also get interns/students/relatives and friends to work as free crew. Keep in mind that relationships may be strained during the stress of filming. Remember to treat everyone with respect and kindness—especially if they are working for free. That means you should NOT work your crew more than 12 hours … and that’s a lot. Many student filmmakers make the mistake of holding punishing working hours because they haven’t prepared well, are indecisive, make mistakes, or are just plain ruthless. If you can’t do it in 12 hours, extend your shooting schedule. This will cost you a little more money but it will be worth it to save your crew and actors from hating you. A five- to seven-minute film takes about three and a half days to shoot, counting half a day for pickups.

Equipment

If you’re a student, you can use school equipment for free. Cash problems arise when students try to get fancy and want to rent dollies, steady-cams, and other high-end stuff they think they need to make their production pop. And there’s the old horror of wanting to shoot on film instead of digitally. I tell those people to get over themselves! You don’t need fancy equipment to make a really good film. So consider some ways you can save on equipment.

Camera

If you already have a camera and tripod, you’re ahead. If not, try to borrow these or use a cinematographer who already has them and is willing to work for free to complete his or her reel. And remember the less sophisticated options. The feature Tangerine was shot on an iPhone 5s!

Lights

You could shoot with available light (a little risky) and outdoors. You’ll be ahead. Of course, if you rent a camera and lights, you’ll be out significant money. Students can use school equipment.

Permits

Permits are an expensive necessity in most cities, but you can certainly choose locations where the permits are cheaper. You can also shoot in places that may not require them, but be careful: A permit will protect you as well as property owners. It’s not a good idea to shoot without them or to try and cheat by stealing shots in locations requiring them. It’s not worth risking serious trouble to save permit money!

Location Costs

Find locations that you can borrow. Use your friends and relatives to help you use their properties for free—houses, apartments, even offices can be “borrowed” from amenable contacts. Just make sure that you clean up after yourself and don’t cause any damage. That means you’ll have to get insurance.

Insurance

A real necessity. If you’re a student, the school usually takes care of that (not all schools do), but if not, then there are companies that will provide insurance coverage by the day at a fairly reasonable rate.

Generator

While it’s true that you don’t want to blow someone’s electrical system when you shoot interiors with lights (a generator could end up costing you as much as $200 for the shoot or as little as $45; size matters here so see what you can find), you might not always need one. Some schools actually forbid the use of generators for safety concerns. To get around the generator issue you can, as professor and filmmaker Mick Hurbis (CUNY) says: “Use daylight with bounced light and you can scout locations for electrical loads. Use locations that can handle the lights you require. Especially now with high sensitivity CMOS sensors and low wattage LED lights, the need for a generator is greatly reduced. Generators require specialized crew and time.”

Hair and Makeup

A makeup kit will cost you $50.00. To find a makeup artist, go to beauty schools and see if you can get an aspiring wannabe for free. Lots of people are looking to work on small films to build up their experience and set cred. If you need elaborate makeup (scars, horror faces, etc.) you may have to pay extra. Make sure you negotiate but not so hard that you alienate a potential makeup contact.

Truck Rental

Depending on the amount of equipment you are planning to use, you’ll definitely need one of these. Some people make do with a flotilla of cars (their own and friends) or a U-Haul, but frankly a truck equipped with racks and a really good lift is preferable. It will make your life so much easier so you might want to spring for the $450 it might cost you for a three-day shoot. And you’ll have to count in gas. If you’re shooting in one location, you may not need a truck at all.

Food for Cast and Crew

You are going to have to feed your crew and actors— especially if they are working for free. DO NOT SKIMP ON FOOD! This means that three days of meals (three meals a day and snacks) may cost you $1,000. If you have generous family (a mom or sister who cooks), you can cut down on your costs. But this is really where lots of your budget will go.

Production Design

Be careful that your sets are not so elaborate that they will run you into serious money. Find innovative and energetic production designers at the beginning of their careers. And make sure they come to you with lots of ideas. It is possible to cheat lots of locations with production design. Remember my earlier examples of the submarine and the jail cell? Be creative. Things don’t have to be real if they can appear real! Just make sure that the cheat translates well in the shot. Test to make sure because there’s nothing worse than having something look great in person but laughable on screen.

Props

Make use of stuff you, your family, or friends have lying around. If you can’t do that, you’ll have to rent props from a prop house. Many of these have student rates. If you’re not a student, carefully consider what you’ll really need. Weapons will cost you extra even if they are fake.

Cops

Even if weapons (guns in particular) are fake, if you take them outside, you’ll have to rent an off-duty cop to be present on set, and you’ll also have to inform police. These days it’s too dangerous to be out in the open with weapons of any kind, even if they are innocent and fake. And this is also true of shooting indoors. Make sure that you alert the police about your intended use of a gun (even a fake one) during your shoot. If you don’t, you may be in for trouble.

That’s what happened to a film crew in Los Angeles on August 3, 2013. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, the students were using fake guns to shoot a robbery scene in a suburban coffee shop when an alarmed bystander thought it was the real thing and called 911. Police arrived to find one man holding what looked like an AR-15 and another one carrying what looked like a handgun. Both were wearing hooded sweatshirts and masks.

A police captain told the Times the man with the rifle dropped his weapon immediately, but the man with the handgun hesitated. Police audio obtained by KTLA-TV revealed an officer shouting, “Drop the gun! Drop it, drop it, drop it.” That student was almost shot. Close call. Be very cautious!

Costumes

If you’re shooting in present day you can sometimes get the actors to supply their own clothing. Just keep in mind that things might get damaged so if you’re supplying clothing you might have to double up. The most common doubling-up items are T shirts and shirts. Usually, though, actor-supplied clothing will work. If you need to use uniforms you’ve got money issues. People who wear uniforms in your script need to be kept to a minimum. If, for example, you’ve got a murder scene with lots of cops around, you’ll have to spring for those outfits. A better solution might be just to have one cop and the rest plainclothes detectives. Another way of cutting down would be to get the CSI folks to wear paper coveralls (they do that on British crime dramas all the time). Those are cheap to buy and can save you lots of money. If you’ve got military in your script, the same holds true. Try to cut down on the extras and main characters because combat outfits will run up your budget drastically. Same is true for the guns they carry (as we’ve already seen).

Stunt People

If you have any kind of stunts in your movie, you’ll have to engage a stunt coordinator who will supply you with stunt people. Sometimes you can get stunt coordinators for a very low price (maybe even free) if they are just starting out. What you don’t want to do is have elaborate stunts that can actually hurt people! And, as mentioned before, sometimes even simple “stunts” like head bumping or falling might need stunt people.

Fight Choreographer

If you have a fight sequence in your movie you will need to get a fight choreographer or else the fight will look fake. Some filmmakers believe they can actually direct fight sequences to look authentic, but the results don’t play that out. You need someone who can make your fight look as effective as possible, and to do that you need someone who’s an expert. Sometimes these people will work for free too.

You can see how your budget can bleed. But you can be smart and save yourself. What follows is a case study where a filmmaker was smart and made a lovely little film for an astounding $50.00. She became a budget super hero for doing that!

Case Study

The project was made for the Hollywood Black Film Festival Mobile Competition and Indi.com (it was based on votes). The challenge was to create a superhero-themed story. The filmmaker (my student Ebony Gilbert) decided to explore what a superhero meant and how the people in our lives embody that. She decided to showcase the everyday life of a single mother and to highlight that woman’s strength through the eyes of her superhero-obsessed child.

Remember, she was able to make the five-minute film for $50. Here’s how:

Camera

A cell phone—the iPhone 5s.

Sound

Her script used only voiceover. This was also recorded on the cell phone. In a quiet room she had her actress speak into the phone in the video recording mode. This was done before she shot any of the scenes.

Editing

She used Final Cut to edit and did it herself.

Lighting

She decided to do the film in black and white to cover up any lighting problems. She says, “We just used God’s beautiful natural light (lol) and every lamp we had at home!”

Locations

• A city street shot in her neighborhood.
• A city bus: shot on an actual bus ride—unobtrusive because of the cell phone use.

Both those scenes took an hour to shoot.

• An apartment (the primary location): her own. This avoided paying to use a space.

The night before the shoot she blocked off where she wanted to shoot and where she would place the camera and the lights and marked it with duct tape on the floor. In black marker she wrote on the tape each scene number, for example, (S1) for scene number one.

Casting

She did not want to use more than two actors since she wanted it to be character focused and simple to shoot. She promoted the audition via social media and held an audition at her church’s facility during one of their big casting calls for another project. She contacted the theater director at the church.

Crew

The crew included the filmmaker as the writer, director, editor, and producer. Her brother acted as director of photography, and her mother worked as the production assistant and casting coordinator.

Budget

The budget was a little less than 50 bucks and included props (superhero items), food for cast and crew, and gas reimbursement.

The film, a moving and a lovely little tribute to working single moms everywhere, made industry folks take notice of Ebony Gilbert, a talented and production-savvy screenwriter!

To summarize, if you want to eliminate budget bleeds:

1. Shoot locally.
2. Limit your locations and borrow them.
3. Where possible, shoot outdoors.
4. Use colleagues, friends, family, interns as crew.
5. Don’t work your crew more than 12 hours a day.
6. Forgo, if possible, elaborate or unusual costumes and uniforms.
7. Try to cut down your shooting days without rushing to get your work done. Make sure you rehearse. That will make your shooting easier.
8. Create a comprehensive shot list before you get on set.
9. Make sure you get lots of coverage.
10. Plan for an extra half-day for pick-ups if you do miss something.
11. Shoot your most complicated/difficult scene first so you’ll get that out of the way. Filmmakers starting out usually take far too long to shoot small scenes when they first get started and then have to rush like crazy to get their large scenes finished at the end of the shoot.